3 ms·

If you work with shitty people on a shitty product, you'll have problems locally or remotely, for sure. I'm working on the assumption that people are competent

If you work with shitty people on a shitty product, you'll have problems locally or remotely, for sure. I'm working on the assumption that people are competent in their job and working on a good product. I still don't buy that a Skype conversation is going to afford more camaraderie than grabbing a beer at lunch or playing a game of ping pong. It's that whole company culture thing. It's the difference between people I work with and those I kick ass with.

rbanffy 15y ago
You don't need camaraderie - you need a shared purpose and team play. They don't have to be friends - all they need is to respect and trust each other within the limits of their professional activities. Skype conversations have nothing to do with it except, perhaps, helping establish the mutual recognition more easily. Textual communications may become abrasive or be interpreted that way.
- nirvdrum 15y ago
  I'm happy to agree to disagree. Maybe you're the most successful bastard on the Internet and you have a formula that always works. We're obviously looking for different things and drawing from different experiences. But as much as it sucks, it almost doesn't matter if you're right. The perception is you're arrogant enough to tell a company or a team how it should be run and if they don't meet your terms, they're doing it wrong and you're going to go do your own thing (this is the royal "you"). I'm exhibiting a mentality you wouldn't want to work for, you're exhibiting a mentality of someone I wouldn't want to work with. You don't have to agree with any of my rationale, but it may help you and other remoters to understand it. Perhaps it'd help to generate a more compromised view than the "you don't need" responses I usually see. And if it helps with context at all, I've experienced this as a remote employee, a local employee with remote colleagues, and an employer.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    Trust me and, more important, trust your team. They are on your side and know what to do. Just encourage them to communicate and they will probably be able to arrange it. They'll do the right thing. As for me, my current job involves being in the office - the company, the portal branch of a telco, doesn't believe in telecommuting just yet, despite us techies pushing for it. We have lost a couple good people over that issue and it prevented hiring several others I'd love to have on my team. In the past years, I have been involved in several projects that were conducted without physical presence and most of them worked just fine. Keeping everyone on the same page is critical and the least successful ones were when communication was difficult.

rbanffy 15y ago

You don't need camaraderie - you need a shared purpose and team play. They don't have to be friends - all they need is to respect and trust each other within the limits of their professional activities. Skype conversations have nothing to do with it except, perhaps, helping establish the mutual recognition more easily. Textual communications may become abrasive or be interpreted that way.

nirvdrum 15y ago
I'm happy to agree to disagree. Maybe you're the most successful bastard on the Internet and you have a formula that always works. We're obviously looking for different things and drawing from different experiences. But as much as it sucks, it almost doesn't matter if you're right. The perception is you're arrogant enough to tell a company or a team how it should be run and if they don't meet your terms, they're doing it wrong and you're going to go do your own thing (this is the royal "you"). I'm exhibiting a mentality you wouldn't want to work for, you're exhibiting a mentality of someone I wouldn't want to work with. You don't have to agree with any of my rationale, but it may help you and other remoters to understand it. Perhaps it'd help to generate a more compromised view than the "you don't need" responses I usually see. And if it helps with context at all, I've experienced this as a remote employee, a local employee with remote colleagues, and an employer.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  Trust me and, more important, trust your team. They are on your side and know what to do. Just encourage them to communicate and they will probably be able to arrange it. They'll do the right thing. As for me, my current job involves being in the office - the company, the portal branch of a telco, doesn't believe in telecommuting just yet, despite us techies pushing for it. We have lost a couple good people over that issue and it prevented hiring several others I'd love to have on my team. In the past years, I have been involved in several projects that were conducted without physical presence and most of them worked just fine. Keeping everyone on the same page is critical and the least successful ones were when communication was difficult.